What We Did
Sourced references from: life, your own photography, and online – https://www.canva.com/, https://creativemarket.com/
Added 2 coats of acrylic paint to our canvas (our chosen base colour, considering that we may see some of the base colour), the day before, allowing at least 4 hours drying time in between (more time in Winter, less time in Summer).
Blocked in our bird silhouette.
Used straight thick acrylic paint and premixed our colours and added light moulding
paste (no more than 50%) to our mixes, depending on the desired texture and relief
desired.
Created a clean, open, and organised space to work in.
Laid out our palette knives and brushes to be able to see them easily.
Worked with our paint on a flat, easy to clean surface, and created pools of paint
from dark to light on our palette.
Marked out colour blocks on bird shape as a guide to how we may paint each
section of bird, using a contrasting pencil.
Continued to look closely at our references to make observations that helped us
create an impression of section of the bird, especially considering how the light is
playing on its form.
Chose the most appropriate knives, brushes, tool to create our first shapes and
continued this process until the end.
Practised our shapes on spare card, to test technique and colour combos.
Working from thinner to thick, beginning with a brush and then moving to the
palette knife, working from dark to light, firstly blocking out each shape - always
considering the overall light source of the image.
As we worked, continued to step back from our painting to assess our progress and
our next steps.DO NOT OVERWORK!!! Less strokes are best with these kinds of
paintings.
Kept our area and tools clean and organised as we worked.
When completed, let painting dry (flat) for at least 48hours, or longer in Winter.
Sealed with Matisse (oil based) satin or matt varnish – mix well prior
Note: Always read the instructions on all painting materials.
What We Used
Any good quality triple primed stretched canvas 300gsm or more. In this case
we have used Luca Triple Primed Canvas, 350gsm 46 x 36cm with a deep
return.
Matisse texture acrylic paints
Meeden acrylic paints
Matisse light modelling paste, and Matisse modelling paste
Porters Paints – Blue Bottle, Peridot & Evergreen (for background)
Flat paint tray for colour mixing
Water bowl
Paper towels
Assorted palette knives, round and pointed (favourite brand for quality and
selection – Art Spectrum)
Assorted brushes, fine, wedged and filbert (favourite brush brand Princeton)
Liquitex paddle brush for laying down the base colour
Assorted pencils, charcoal, and coloured pencils Art Suppliers
Learn More About Materials & Tools
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